Two stand mixers were raffled off to attendees, 3 food processors were given away, and one convection oven. I didn’t win anything but had one of the best days I’ve had in ages. I felt like I hit the jackpot just being among all the great energy and wonderful people.

The cauliflower and red peppers in that jar were so striking and spectacular in person when the light was hitting them just so.

If cauliflower could be called beautiful, that’s how.

Joy made the most amazing frosting that tasted like…

…melted Marshmallow Fluff!

There was a cupcake decorating station and Nancy “only” made 300 cupcakes the day before for the attendees to decorate.

I slathered the marshmallowey frosting onto a couple of cupcakes and in between decorating, I used plenty of those wooden sticks to sample some frosting BLTs (bites, licks, tastes). I promise, I didn’t double dip.

Todd was double-fisting blow torches and was just a wee bit excited about that.

I let him torch my tops.

That’s some of the best frosting ever. Egg whites, sugar, corn syrup. It’s in her book.

I was fortunate enough to receive a copy and let’s just say, I have already dog-eared about 10 recipes in the one day I’ve had my copy.

After the torching, I visited the cupcake-wrapping station where I packaged up the cupcakes.

Talk about an afterschool treat for a 5 year old girly girl: Pink cupcake wrappers, pink decorative sprinkles, pink ribbon, and a marshmallow-frosted cupcake. I got the Mom of the Week Award for that one.

Everyone was so fun-loving and genuinely happy at the event..

It was wonderful to see Diane and Todd again. I had not seen them since Food & Light in Boulder last summer, which was an extraordinary experience. It was a photography (and life) changing trip. I’ll never forget it.

If you want to vote for me, I’d love it. You can sign in with your Facebook or Twitter name to register and voting is anonymous. Takes about 1.18 seconds to do. Wait for the page to load (it’s a bit slow and you may need to scroll “up” to see the names). Click to Vote and of course, Vote for anyone who’s work you love.

Voting ends on March 2 (tomorrow) so do your voting now. There’s a million super talented photographers, professional photographers, and fabulous bloggers on the list, so to even make the list and be nominated, I was honored.

2. I was nominated to Fitness Magazine’s Blogs We Love: Best Healthy Eating Blogs list. I’m the first to admit, my blog’s focus has changed from where it was three years ago and I’ve moved from posting about raw vegan food and yoga and onto decadent desserts and comfort food, but I’m still honored to be nominated. If you want to vote for me, I’d be grateful.

What was the last really awesome day you’ve had? What did you do?

My Wednesday was one of the best days I’ve had in ages. I loved every second of the day (other than getting caught in traffic twice on the way there; once leaving San Diego and once entering Orange County. Very small price to pay)

I’m excited! I get to meet Joy the Baker this weekend. This looks like sooo much fun!

She is a total sweetheart and I know you’re going to love meeting her!

Umm, what am AMAZING looking event, I would have loved to join in! I’ll hopefully be getting a chance to meet Joy this weekend in San Francisco – I’m so glad to hear you love her book so much, because I’ve been looking forward to taking a peek through it!

As if I’m not jealous enough that you live in Southern California, that event takes it over the top ;) You lucky lady!

It was such a great event and there are definite benefits to SoCal, in more ways than one!

I would love to see Joy on her book tour but sadly she isn’t coming down South. Once I graduate I will be moving back to the west coast as soon as possible. Thank goodness because I will be back on my favorite author-touring city stops.

Looks like everyone is SO HAPPY!! How could you not be though, surrounded by all that awesomeness – human and cupcake alike.

I need a day like that!

You deserve a day like this, too!

What a great opportunity for you and it sounds like you had a blast! It is always so rewarding to be able to have an entire day (or days) you can devote to pursuing artistic passions. I love to have a weekend day when hubby is working and I have all afternoon and evening to make jewelry and play my guitar without any other responsibilities or interruptions. That happened in early Feb. and it was a deeply satisfying and productive day!!

I’d love to make jewelry and cook and bake and have those really fabulous weekend afternoons where all is right with the world…I know exactly the kind you speak of (and they don’t happen often enough!)

It was so fun getting to chat and hang with you this week!! Hope to see you again soon :) xoxo

Glad to hear Wednesday was such a wonderful day for you! It certainly sounds like you had a great time! I had an awesome day last weekend if I remember correctly!

In regard to your comment about the cookies. My intention all along was to do a final post with a description of each and rate them 1-5, however what I didn’t expect was for them all to taste so similar! Besides looks, the taste of the last 4 is virtually identical! It is shocking, because the recipes are quite different. The hubby picked a favourite though, and I do have thoughts on each one that I will share along with my choice of #1.

Averie!
Your blog is INCREDIBLE have been snooping around for a whole hour. I LOVE being able to read all about your adventures. so inspiring! So great to meet you the other day! Best of luck!
xo
Alex

Alex, you are so sweet, thanks for snooping around and it was FAB to meet you! If you’re ever in SoCal (can’t remember where you said you live now), we have to hang! I live in a funky party of San Diego and I can tell by your rockin’ sense of style, we could get into some trouble together!
xoxo

Oh Wow! This is awesome. KitchenAid mentioned at FoodBlogForum that they did an event with Todd & Diane recently and I am so happy that you went and now I can live vicariously through your photos! :) I’m sure their photo studio was amazing – I’m hoping that I’ll get to visit it one day!

HOW DID I MISS THIS?! That. looks. amazing.

I’m not jealous at all.

It was the most amazing day. Seriously…just…beyond words fun! :)

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Hi, I'm Averie and I'm so glad you've found my site! You'll find fast and easy recipes from dinners to desserts that taste amazing and are geared for real life. Nothing fussy or complicated, just awesome tasting dishes everyone loves!